U.S. Stock Market History

  • Wall Street Laid Out

    Surveyors lay out Wall Street along the line of the stockade
  • Buttonwood Agreement

    Twenty-four prominent brokers and merchants gather on Wall Street to sign the Buttonwood Agreement, agreeing to trade securities on a commission basis. The New York Stock Exchange traces its beginnings to this historic pact.
  • Erie Canal opens

    The opening of the Erie Canal makes New York City the seaboard gateway for the Great Lakes region. New York State bonds, issued to finance the canal, are traded actively on the Exchange.
  • The Great Fire

  • Panic of 1857

  • New Name

  • Lincoln is Assassinated

    The Exchange closes for more than a week following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
  • NYSE closes for 10 days

  • Move to current site

  • WW1 Causes Longest Exchange Shutdown

  • Black Thursday

  • NYSE Closes For Bank Holiday

  • Women Work on Trading Floor

  • Eisenhower Heart Attack

  • Kennedy Assassinated

  • Ronald Reagan Visits NYSE

  • Dow Plummets

  • Terrorist Attacks on WTC

  • NYSE and ArcaEx Merge

  • NYSE Opens Office in Beijing, China